LeadingLane Podcast

Ashley Fredrick (00:02.914)
Okay.

Steven L Burch (00:04.045)
Yeah.

Ashley Fredrick (00:06.166)
the chiropractor later.

Steven L Burch (00:08.651)
I go today too.

Ashley Fredrick (00:10.367)
This will be the third time this week, so.

Steven L Burch (00:13.009)
I haven't been in about a year and a half, so I'm sure I'll be hurting up.

Ashley Fredrick (00:16.98)
I go monthly no matter what.

Steven L Burch (00:19.269)
Yeah, I need to. I did do that for a bit, but, well. How's the audio? Is it messing with you with my speaker? Steven sounds good. Ashley, talk again.

Ashley Fredrick (00:32.962)
Brandon, how are you?

Steven L Burch (00:35.449)
Good, just making sure there's no echoing.

Ashley Fredrick (00:40.202)
Okay, do I fit in your screen centrally?

Steven L Burch (00:43.854)
Yeah, where are you?

Ashley Fredrick (00:45.769)
and our other office at home.

Steven L Burch (00:48.854)
Is this your new one? Your OnlyFans room?

Ashley Fredrick (00:50.562)
Hmm. Not yet, no. This is Ben and I's shared office. It's a shit show on the back side of the camera.

I figured you probably didn't want a Christmas tree in the background, so.

Steven L Burch (01:05.945)
Wow. I didn't even think about that. Good thinking. You're a thinker. Let me close out of my rover tab here that I was looking at. Okay. So today we're just talking about like basically why we're doing it. Is that what we're doing?

Ashley Fredrick (01:11.197)
Thank you.

Ashley Fredrick (01:27.955)
That's what it says.

Steven L Burch (01:30.865)
Okay, that's what we'll do. I think, did you, oh, you haven't listened to Tracy's voiceover thing yet. Okay, we'll send that over after the call so you can listen to it. It already introduces us, so I don't think that we need to introduce ourselves. I think it's just kind of start talking and then we can go from there, is that okay? Cool, you ready?

Ashley Fredrick (01:32.386)
Ha ha

Ashley Fredrick (01:40.67)
No, I haven't seen anything.

Ashley Fredrick (01:56.814)
Yes.

Ashley Fredrick (02:00.27)
I'm ready.

Steven L Burch (02:01.733)
Alright, I don't know why you look so grainy on mine, but you're gonna probably upload better.

Ashley Fredrick (02:07.217)
I know it.

Steven L Burch (02:11.321)
Okay. All right. So here we are. First podcast, episode one. Here we go. So how about we first start with this? Who in the hell is Ashley Frederick?

Ashley Fredrick (02:14.69)
Here we are.

Woohoo!

Ashley Fredrick (02:25.954)
Ooh, that's me. So Ashley Frederick, I am in central Wisconsin. So I always do my little mitten and you're in the middle of the mitten which is what Wisconsin shaped like a little mitten. So I'm a broker owner of a local real estate company and been in real estate for 11 years now.

Steven L Burch (02:42.097)
Perfect.

Steven L Burch (02:51.697)
Awesome. Fantastic. So I'll let you first say, why are we here? Why are we doing this podcast? What in the world are we doing?

Ashley Fredrick (03:01.246)
Right? Because there's like a hundred million podcasts out right now. I think you could be pulled in any directions. But I think that what we're talking about is there's just so much to real estate. And I think you could turn at every level. But I also think that, you know, with life and things, the way that they turn, things can turn negative. And for me, like, I like to listen to podcasts that are entertaining, are uplifting, or really just make me think outside the box, like.

I mean, I have been in real estate for 10 years, but I never thought about that. And I think that as we share things, right, like knowledge is power. So if we're sharing these things with everyone or getting other people's ideas, just makes us all better agents, leaders, people. And then really that makes us all interact with each other better, do our businesses better. I mean, that's what I think that I'd love to have people take away from it, but I wanna hear more about Steven Burch.

Steven L Burch (03:57.373)
Cool, well, I'm Steve Burch, Steven Burch, and I am from Kansas in the middle of Midwest America. And like Ashley, you know, A, first, let me be very clear in this disclaimer, I was completely resistant from doing a podcast just because it is kind of the hot topic right now. And I think there's obviously some great things that are out there, but.

Ashley Fredrick (03:59.7)
Thank you.

Steven L Burch (04:22.957)
My goal is to really bring just different perspective of what it really does take to run a business. Making sure people know that yes, there is success. However, it takes a lot of freaking work behind the scenes that people truly don't ever see. So it looks all glamorous and fun on social media or what they put on the reality TV shows, but that's not.

Ashley Fredrick (04:40.634)
Thank you.

Ashley Fredrick (04:47.566)
I mean, it just happened overnight, right?

Steven L Burch (04:49.537)
Oh, yeah, you just stab a sign and we make 10 grand every time we get a sell like super freaking easy. That is not the case. But honestly, you know, like, yeah, we both are in real estate and we both are, you know, have our own companies. But I think that in sharing with the world that.

It's more than just real estate. And I think that what we're wanting to share is, yeah, where you can talk about transactions, we can talk about running companies, but it's the real life shit that happens in every single day that we deal with. You know, for me, it was the battle of overcoming the things that, you know, the bullshit stories that I was telling myself that nobody wants to listen to me. And, you know, I'm here kind of stuck in the end. I don't mean stuck, but.

stuck in the Midwest and not literally a box in Kansas. And, you know, I got shut down constantly and trying to be a leader within our community. And like, it just was tiring. But then realizing that I do have a voice, I do have a message to be able to share with other people. And my goal is to really help inspire other people that are out there. Let it be, if you're battling with your own.

Ashley Fredrick (05:40.718)
Mm-hmm.

Steven L Burch (06:01.825)
internal struggles or if it is really in real estate as sales or if it really is running a company even if it's not even anything pertaining to real estate at all. So my goal is just at least help bring some light in hopefully laughter and some real shit that people don't like to talk about. So yeah, I'm pretty stoked about this honestly. So once I removed that, this is not a podcast, it is, but I'm talking to a friend. This is like

Ashley Fredrick (06:18.798)
Thank you.

Steven L Burch (06:31.481)
cup of coffee and just shooting the shit.

Ashley Fredrick (06:34.374)
Well, I think that there's like so many hard topics or topics that we don't talk about enough, whether it's real estate and leadership, you know, in your community, that doesn't matter if you're in real estate or not, you know, you might have struggles with the way that people treat you at work, you know, you're not even in real estate. And I think that just being able to have open discussions, and, you know, we don't have the right answers. But as long as we're having those that dialogue, you know, and that's where I hope that people will chime in and, you know,

give thoughts and opinions or ask more questions. But I think you're right, it's really just all encompassing of real estate or not. But we're all humans, we all, I think, strive to do better and want to be led in that direction. And sometimes I know people are stuck in spots, whether it's their work or at home. And I think if they have a light or maybe someone that they know is gonna help, push them. And we've all had our people that are in slumps and you just kind of have to.

keep pushing them and this can be an avenue for that.

Steven L Burch (07:36.465)
Right. And I think it's able to be able to share that, you know, we both have some fantastic stories. We both have had some turbulence in life and struggles, right? Like starting from with our company, we had five thousand dollars in our account and that was five thousand dollars for personal bills and for the brokerage itself. And so, you know, looking back and letting people know that you can do it, you can truly achieve whatever you put your mind to.

And, you know, like, if we can be able to help the struggle just a little bit, then I think that this is a huge success. Even if it's just one person that's out there listening to us every week, then, you know, I'm happy to be able to help that person. So let's maybe share, like, how did we meet? Where did, how did we make that connection?

Ashley Fredrick (08:28.931)
I think it was in St. Louis. Yes, and I think you had put on a broker owner page that you were hanging out downtown St. Louis if anybody was in town and I was like, well, we opened our business two weeks before COVID.

Steven L Burch (08:31.842)
Yes.

Ashley Fredrick (08:45.238)
happened and shut down the world. So same thing. We're like, oh, we just made the worst decision ever. Um, and so we couldn't go to a conference for, I think, almost two years. So we didn't, hadn't met anybody else. Um, sort of, guess we'll go see who this Steven guy is. Uh, and Matt, uh, yeah, Matt, you and, you and Ryan, um, and then kind of just started seeing each, each other whenever there'd be a conference. And.

Steven L Burch (09:01.114)
And there you were.

Ashley Fredrick (09:11.898)
You're always so open to sharing information that, you know, sometimes when I come across in the network, be like, that Steven guy might be able to answer that question. And then, yeah, I think just always, conferences, we'd always reconnect, and then we happened to go to our mastermind May of this year. I spent a whole week together. Lots of fun stories. And then, yeah, I would agree.

Steven L Burch (09:38.673)
Maybe some we shouldn't share.

Ashley Fredrick (09:41.458)
Um, but I think through that week, like it was interesting that to see like how willing we were to push one another and challenge one another, which let's be honest, like that's what real friends do. Like they'll call you out on your BS. Um, and be like, yeah. Okay. Anyway, moving on. So what are you going to do about that? Uh, and I think that we found that connection very quickly and it's blossomed since then.

Steven L Burch (10:02.785)
Yeah, I think I need to share the story about when we met in St. Louis. We were out at the outside little stadium, you know, type of thing. And I think we were inside a bar, like, I mean, it was like inside outside type of thing, right. And we were texting, like where we were. And all of a sudden, like this, the sun was in my eyes. Here comes up this beautiful blonde woman. And I was like.

Ashley Fredrick (10:08.284)
Uh oh.

Steven L Burch (10:30.757)
Who is this freaking model? Like, I can't talk to like, surely she's not coming to talk to me. Like, as my, yeah. As my, as you know, Ryan, my husband was there with me, we're like, dang, who's this girl? And then isn't this when Ben was there too? Your husband? And here comes Ben, another big, beautiful man, right? Like, I was like, God, like, this is the most beautiful couple in the freaking world. So.

Ashley Fredrick (10:37.644)
Never heard this story, so I find this interesting.

Ashley Fredrick (10:50.071)
Mm-hmm.

Ashley Fredrick (10:57.902)
Oh, thank you.

Steven L Burch (11:00.245)
Um, but yeah, we, I think we instantly connected really from the beginning that we, we met. Um, and as we learned more about each other, you and I have a lot of similarities. It's kind of, kind of scary. Um, the, the most recent one is, uh, when I was decorating the Christmas tree, right? Um, I asked Ryan, my husband to, to help me put the ornaments on and, uh,

He obviously did not put them on correctly. So apparently he texted Ben that he can't even decorate a Christmas tree properly. And apparently Ben had the same type of experience with Ashley about the not placing the ornaments properly on the Christmas tree. So, of course, I mean, I don't understand. Like it's like out here just hanging in Daniel and it looks like it's barely hanging on for life.

Ashley Fredrick (11:45.794)
They go inside the Christmas tree, not on the outside people.

Steven L Burch (11:59.013)
Let's give it a little support in there. So anyways, it's so funny that the things that we text and talk about and conversate about how.

Ashley Fredrick (12:07.682)
There was the other one that was like, I think I'm gonna, we were in Chicago and then I think I texted you like, I'm gonna get a massage when I get home. And then you like took a screenshot if you were looking for Masoos at the same exact time.

Steven L Burch (12:20.493)
Yeah, like the get out of my mind, right? But I think it's so great to be able to have the dynamic that we have of, I mean, you hit the nail on the head of being able to call each other on their BS and pushing to the next level, not allowing each other to just settle for meteorocracy. One of the phrases that you use all the time that I absolutely love is the center of excellence. And...

You know, we really strive to continue to grow not only ourselves, but the people around us and that you have to have people in surround yourself or, you know, around people that are like that, not allowing us to say, oh, I'm going to try notes. What are you actually going to do? What is the execution that you're going to be able to get there? And the other great part about it is you're not afraid to say, what can I do to help? Right. Like.

Ashley Fredrick (13:12.302)
Mm-hmm.

Steven L Burch (13:13.141)
And I think that as a leader, you do have to be able to make sure that, yeah, you're challenging people to be able to strive for their center of excellence. Um, but you have to be right there with them and pull up the boots and walk through the mud with them and make sure that they know that they're not alone. And that brings us back to why I think we're here doing this podcast. Right.

Ashley Fredrick (13:33.826)
I think it goes to, it's not just work, right? I mean, like you spend eight hours plus, you know, or more with your coworkers, colleagues, you know, in any field and life isn't always easy. So I think it's a matter too, you know, when you're a leader or just a coworker being able to recognize when someone isn't, you know, maybe on their game or that they're struggling, because, you know, let's be honest, times can be really tough for people. And it is really that matter of just like, are you okay?

Do you need something? And it doesn't matter if it's at the office or not, you know, like, do you need a ride home tonight? You know, just whatever that is. I think it's really important for us to be aware of, you know, our people and that does help bring them up, right? Because maybe they haven't had somebody in their lives before that have been a positive impact or have been willing to be like, hey, this isn't right. Like, you know, something's off. Let's talk about it. How can I help you? And I think if we can, if everyone could open those doors, like, just imagine how much things are probably, you know, flow better.

Steven L Burch (14:33.113)
Absolutely. And the thing that I've always experienced, and I don't know if you have experienced this before or not, but the leaders that I've had, the only time I ever really hear from them is when something's wrong. And to me, that's not leadership. That's a role. That's what they have to do to fulfill the role, I guess. But in leadership, it doesn't matter your title. It's truly making sure that you're reaching out to your people.

Ashley Fredrick (14:46.422)
Mm-hmm.

Steven L Burch (15:01.969)
and touching those lives and trying to help in any way that you possibly can to, again, empower and lift them up and embrace them. And a lot of times we don't see our own potential in ourselves. You know, I know that there's things that like, I know that I never thought that I would ever be doing, but you have pushed me to, you know, to challenge me to step out of my element and step out of my comfort zone. And that's exactly what I think that.

Ashley Fredrick (15:15.593)
Okay.

Steven L Burch (15:30.353)
good humans, it's not even leaders, it's just good humans in helping one another out. And I feel like the world right now, what we live in is already daunting enough that we don't have to bring any more just crazy drama to the table or trauma to the table. You can say that for the llama, isn't that the phrase? Say the drama for the llama. But be able to help one another, so yeah. So how about...

Ashley Fredrick (15:54.644)
soon.

Steven L Burch (16:00.337)
You tell me a little bit about I think the first time I saw you on stage, um, your, your title was the only realtor in the room or the title of the session was only realtor in the room. Second one, what was the first one? My bad.

Ashley Fredrick (16:13.038)
was the second one.

First one was the impact over income. So that one, so that must have been 2021. So in the midst of COVID crazy market and no inventory, which obviously we're still struggling with today. I'd say it's a little bit better today, but not quite like it was. But I think at that time I was like, how many people have like five houses for sale on their market? Because at that time,

Steven L Burch (16:19.438)
Ooh, okay. That's even better. Let's start with that. What was that about?

Ashley Fredrick (16:44.946)
actually probably still now we have more realtors than we do houses for sale. And so my big thing was that we had this, you know, open 10 acre parcel in the middle of town and a really established neighborhood and a developer that had owned it had since retired and was looking to sell it. And it was like a three year battle to get people to understand the need of housing, that it doesn't cost $150,000 to build a house, what that looks like.

And so I worked really closely with the city planner, city developer to have the city actually purchase that lot, develop it into 23 lots, and then start the housing process. So the first time I spoke about it was just, you know, kind of what that looked like, all the uphill battles. I'll be honest, young blonde female in rural USA, kicking up some SHIT didn't always go over well.

But you know, when you're passionate about something, you know, you're gonna follow that anyway, even if you're the only voice in the room, you have to. And I think it was kind of that battle of, you can tell me no, one of the other developer actually was like, gosh, it sounds like you can't take no for an answer, and really it is like, once someone tells me no, I can't, I mean, I can't wait to prove them wrong. So they told me no originally, and now we have a subdivision and there are currently.

five houses in there right now, a couple other spec homes that are being done. So that was the first time that I really spoke.

Steven L Burch (18:18.585)
Awesome. And then, so then the second time was the being the only realtor in the room. Tell me about that.

Ashley Fredrick (18:24.286)
Yeah. So that actually came out of, like many people know Lee Brown and a very well known realtor in North Carolina. She's fantastic, written some great books or whatnot. I went to one of her speaking courses and you're trying to like hone down on what your title would be and we came across to like only realtor in the room and that actually resonated back to the first time in that all of these discussions or questions...

you know, other realtors had the opportunity to come and express their concerns, et cetera, and like nobody did. But it looks so much more than that. Like people that know me know that I'm deeply entrenched in our community. And it's not for show, it's not for that. It's because I truly believe like that is part of being in real estate is helping your community and whatever that looks like. But I think it's just me as a human nature person, like I just always want to be helping someone in some fashion.

So my husband and I have just made a practice of showing up. So whether it's fundraisers, whether it's, you know, somebody's dog was missing, you know, all kinds of events. And what I just kept on fighting was that, you know, many times I was the only realtor there and I was never going there for business, but it is what it is, you know, when people want to know what's going on in the real estate market, you just tend to be the one that they, you know, get attracted to. And I think that that's led to a lot of the

successes today is that I'm seen, you know, and people know that you're gonna show up. So I, you know, just tell people I don't think they understand it. It's not even just like right in life, like just for your friends, like it's a matter of showing up. Sometimes it's that simple text message like, hey, been thinking about you, hope all is well. You know, because we get so busy with day to day activities. So the form of like showing up, you know, we can have a whole topic about that. But

Yeah, only in the only realtor in there like you'd be shocked, you know, I still like to this day go there and I understand like people have families and I Still say even though I don't have children I still have family so whenever I tell people like oh you have kids and I say no No, then you should be able to you know, help me whenever you want So I do have a family it might just only be my husband but um and my cat Mittens which is surprised She hasn't popped in here yet you know, but I think just the fact of showing up again like

Ashley Fredrick (20:47.17)
people just don't understand or I don't think they understand just being seen, they might not even ever have met you, but the fact that they just keep on seeing you. And then when that time comes that they do need an expert, like you're just top of mind because they've been seeing you.

Steven L Burch (21:03.217)
something so simple by showing up and how huge of an impact that can have on your business. And the reason why I wanted you to bring up those times that I've seen you on stage is really the titles and the topics I think are very similar things to what we're gonna be bringing to this podcast. I know you and I have had multiple discussions about the race topic, being the diversity in real estate and...

Ashley Fredrick (21:27.57)
Mm-hmm.

Steven L Burch (21:30.949)
how the challenges are and we actually have a guest that I'm super excited about bringing on here in a couple of weeks. So we wanna talk about things that are real and have a real impact. Again, let it be for real estate or not. But what are some of the things topic wise that we can give our listeners some kind of glimpse of what's to come from us?

Ashley Fredrick (21:53.174)
Ooh, there's so many. I think the list is up to like 200, I felt like. It's been like this brain dump of every time you come across something, whether it's real estate or not, I'm like, ooh, that'd be a great topic. And then you keep on adding it. I think some of the big ones and I, you know, it's talked about a lot, but like time management, I feel like that's a really big one that people talk about. But I don't feel like people really ever give like true helpful hints, you know, like it's not just a matter of like.

do this and do that, like how that actually works or like, you know, notifications, right? Like I just told an agent yesterday that I don't get email notifications on my phone and the look on her face was priceless. You know, so things like that. And, you know, that's I'm sure that's a hot topic that people love to discuss. Like, how do you not get notifications on your phone? But it's a matter of right. Like you have to show up for yourself even when you're setting yourself as a priority. And what I was telling someone yesterday was that like

When I get into my email, I want to be present for my email. Right? I want to be able to respond, et cetera. Um, you know, but we have all kinds of like tips and tools of things that now you can, uh, you know, start emails and they go to a task list and like to give people just those little hints. I think, you know, you tell me about that. And I think I've given it to like four other people and they were like, Oh my gosh, this makes my life so much easier. So if we can give people just those little tips to make everyday mundane, you know, um, activities that much.

smoother. I think that's what we're here for. I think time management was a really good one. And I think probably because we're, you know, at the new year coming to the new year goals. And again, that's such a big topic, and so many people have to talk about it. But we're in business review right now. So for me, it's top of mind. And one thing I always encourage people like in a leadership role too, is that goals shouldn't just be about business, right? So a lot of my

Steven L Burch (23:23.238)
Absolutely.

Ashley Fredrick (23:50.37)
part of when I'm going over with agents is like, what are your personal goals? What are your family goals? What are your community goals? What are your financial goals? And I think that, you know, that's something too that I think you and I have talked about that people don't talk a lot about finances. I think that like money is a taboo situation and I don't think that it should be because I wish that when I was like in my 20s, somebody would have had these discussions with me.

It would have helped a lot of problems, but you know what I mean? If we can help people like, again, whether they're in real estate or not, like how are you doing those things? You know, where, where can you get help? Where are those resources? Um, so that maybe people don't have the same struggles that we had along the way.

Steven L Burch (24:35.169)
Absolutely. Yeah, I had to pull up the list because we started, when we first started, we were like, what do we really even talk about? And then as we developed this shared drive of all these different topics, we're like, holy heck, there's a lot, right? For me, it's being able to, I love systems and automations, right? Being efficient as we possibly can.

Ashley Fredrick (24:36.182)
What about you? What are your like top three?

Ashley Fredrick (24:41.552)
Cheater.

Ashley Fredrick (24:54.458)
Thank you.

Steven L Burch (25:03.757)
But I really want to share the struggles that I've overcome and have to help other individuals that are out there. But pulling this up, it's doing things like understanding about like MSAs, marketing service agreements, how you can help with your overhead and be smart and understanding, I hear it all the freaking time as a broker that the only way to be able to

to grow and scale your business is you have to recruit. Like, yeah, I do think that you have to recruit, don't get me wrong, but that is not the number one thing that you have to be able to do. You have to be able to create a foundation first. You have to be able to have yourself first and have the stability before you can bring anybody else on and truly grow. And you can assign all the different assets and seats and license on the wall that you wanna be able to do, but are you gonna be as profitable and have that revenue that you're looking to go? I don't think so.

Ashley Fredrick (26:02.186)
Yeah, I mean, I think it's always right, quality over quantity.

Steven L Burch (26:02.265)
Um

absolutely freaking lootily. But going over different things of, I'm a firm believer of commission structures. They don't all have to be the same. They don't have to be the same across the board. They do need to be fair, but we are so fixated on having to have one structure.

Ashley Fredrick (26:21.054)
Like when you saw mine, you were like, I've never seen that before.

Steven L Burch (26:23.621)
Right, which I thought was fantastic and we're going to implement. So sharing those ideas with one another and seeing if there's a better way, we can implement it into our business and our life. I know one of the things that you're gonna push me to do, which I'll go ahead and just rip the bandaid off, is share my sexuality and being able to be in the Midwest and not conforming against being with everybody else the box that they think that I should be.

It's really growing and developing myself. And again, I wanna make sure that we impact other people that are out there. We have so many different things on this list that we can go on and on and on, but really what we're doing here today is we just wanted to give you a quick little introduction of who we are, what we're wanting to bring to the table, and making sure that you know that if you like us, you wanna listen more to us, then go ahead and.

like and do all the fun things that you're supposed to do. But more importantly, we're not here, at least I'm not here, I don't think you are either, but we're not here for huge growth on getting people to watch this podcast and be famous or anything. What we really want to do is hear from you, the listeners. What are some of the topics that you want to hear and learn about? What are some things that you're currently struggling with that we can talk about?

Maybe you're somebody that you want to jump on with us as a guest. And so we can have these true real raw discussions very much like race or the diversity aspect of things. So we're here for you at the end of the day and we want to know what you would like to listen to us talk about. So I'm pretty stoked about having this podcast. We're coming up on time. So I thank you from the bottom of my heart to.

that you're actually listening, you made it this far, congratulations. But I am even more stoked to have a great co-host here that is absolutely phenomenal. And I think that we both, and I will say it, we both have a lot to be able to share. And you and I kind of just have that back and forth charisma, if you will, that I think that...

Ashley Fredrick (28:17.194)
Ha ha ha.

Ashley Fredrick (28:37.562)
I think that some people would actually think that we were like an old married couple if they didn't know better that we both had spouses But I am would be we wouldn't be together anyway

Steven L Burch (28:44.231)
That would be really scary.

Steven L Burch (28:50.694)
No.

Ashley Fredrick (28:52.75)
But I am so excited. I just think, like you've talked about, even if you can change one person's view on something or help them with something they're struggling in their business or lives, I think that's really what we're here for. And yes, you don't give yourself enough credit, but you have done tremendous for you and your team and your community. And I'm excited for you to share that throughout our journey together.

Steven L Burch (29:16.741)
Here we go. So thank you all for listening today and stay tuned for the next one. See you all soon.

Ashley Fredrick (29:23.832)
Bye.